In 1969, the Senate voted down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement F. Haynsworth, 55-45, the first such rejection since 1930.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.

In 1974, bombs exploded at a pair of pubs in Birmingham, England, killing 21 people. (Six suspects were convicted of the attack, but the convictions of the so-called "Birmingham Six" were overturned in 1991.)

In 1980, 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council chose Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt to be Secretary-General.

Ten years ago: In a historic eastward shift, NATO expanded its membership into the borders of the former Soviet Union as it invited seven former communist countries (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) under its security umbrella. In northern Nigeria, deadly rioting erupted after a newspaper suggested Islam's founding prophet Muhammad would have approved of the Miss World beauty pageant, scheduled to be held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja (the event was moved to London). Eleven bus passengers were killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

Five years ago: New Hampshire set its earliest-ever presidential primary, deciding on Jan. 8, 2008. Officials announced the recall of more than a half-million pieces of Chinese-made children's jewelry contaminated with lead. Engineer Herbert Saffir, who created the five-category system used to describe hurricane strength, died in Miami at age 90.

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One year ago: Congress' bipartisan deficit reduction "supercommittee," tasked with finding $1.2 trillion in cuts over a decade, failed; under the law that established the committee, inability to reach a compromise would trigger about $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts in military and domestic government programs beginning in 2013. Detroit's Justin Verlander became the first starting pitcher in a quarter-century to be voted Most Valuable Player. Author Ann McCaffrey, 85, whose vision of an interstellar alliance between humans and dragons spawned the science fiction "Dragonriders of Pern" novels, died south of Dublin.